Relationship between body image, physical activity and country of origin among Hispanic women in New York City

Background: Hispanics in the U.S. do not engage in recommended amount of leisure-time physical activity. Prior research has found that body dissatisfaction is associated with physical inactivity. Hispanics have high levels of body dissatisfaction, thus it is important to understand how body dissatisfaction and physical activity are related in this population. However, most research among Hispanics fails to differentiate by country of origin. The aims of this study are to describe body image dissatisfaction and to evaluate its association with physical activity among a diverse group of Hispanic women in New York.

Methods: We recruited 182 Hispanic women in New York City who completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding their physical activity and 13 body image-related questions using a series of 9 female figure silhouettes, ranging from very thin to very obese. Using multivariate logistic regression, we examined the association of body dissatisfaction, calculated as the difference between the participant's actual shape and the shape they would most like to be, with physical activity and country of origin, adjusting for BMI and demographics (age, education, marital status, and income).

Results: Participants were Dominican (42%), Puerto Rican (34%) or from other Latin American countries (24%). Compared to Dominicans, participants from Puerto Rico had significantly lower odds of body dissatisfaction (OR=0.10, 95% CI: 0.43-0.02). Engaging in vigorous physical activity was also associated with significantly lower odds of body dissatisfaction (OR=0.98, 95% CI: 0.95-0.99).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that body image dissatisfaction among Latinas varies by country of origin and by physical activity.